


All In Jest

by starkerscoop



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Birthday, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, I guess???, Insecure Tony Stark, M/M, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:54:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25803949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starkerscoop/pseuds/starkerscoop
Summary: In honor of Tony Stark’s 50th birthday, here’s Tony thinking everyone forgot about it.
Relationships: Peter Parker/Tony Stark
Comments: 4
Kudos: 96





	All In Jest

Tony wasn’t overly fond of his birthday. He’d spent the majority of them hiding in either his lab or his room, secluding himself from the people thinking he’d throw the biggest party of the year in celebration. It was only once, during the whole palladium poisoning fiasco, that he’d put together a party; even then, it was simply because he thought that birthday would be his last.

All of that, however, didn’t mean that he wanted people to forget the significance of May 29. So the fact that Peter did... well, it hurt. A lot. 

He hadn’t had any expectations set in place for what Peter might do. He didn’t sneak hints into their conversations, or even mention the date. In fact, he’d been writing a script in his head on how to gently explain to Peter that, though he appreciated his efforts, Tony didn’t like celebrating his birth. 

The script was tossed in the trash when Peter woke up, rolled over to face Tony, and greeted him with a sleepy ‘good morning’. Tony waited a few minutes for the realization to cross Peter’s face; when he remained silently tracing shapes onto Tony’s chest, Tony sank resignedly into the sheets. Peter didn’t remember that it was his birthday. There was no breakfast in bed, no heartfelt declaration of love.

Tony wondered idly if he was avoiding mentioning it to skirt the fact that Tony had turned fifty. They’d spoken about the age difference more times than Tony could count -- mostly because Tony insisted. Peter truly hadn’t seemed to care about it when they first got together, and he didn’t seem to mind it now. He loved Tony’s gray hairs and the rough texture of his skin; he embraced them reverently before Tony could even begin to feel insecure. But what if he was repulsed, now that the novelty of those features was slowly fading? 

“I’m gonna have to start getting ready.” Peter sighed deeply, the gust of air hitting and cooling Tony’s bare skin. 

“You want me to drop you off?” Tony offered, sitting up to watch Peter wander into the ensuite. 

Peter glanced at him. “You won’t be late for anything? No plans?”

“None.” Tony said, gritting his teeth at the reminder.

Peter smiled slightly. “Okay. You wanna shower with me?”

“I’ll pass.” Tony slid off the bed and ambled over to the closet, busying himself with choosing an outfit to avoid looking Peter in the eyes.

Peter’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Be ready in twenty, I don’t want to be late.” 

For a moment, Tony considered dragging out the morning and purposely making Peter late to class. Some small revenge wouldn’t hurt, right? Tony wasn’t usually petty when it concerned Peter, but he figured it was warranted this time. Though, Peter would get upset with him, and if there was anything Tony hated, it was that. 

By the time Peter was out of the shower and ready, he was thirty minutes late for his lecture, and it was his own fault for taking too long. A small, vindictive part of Tony was satisfied to see that he hadn’t even needed to do anything for Peter to be tardy, but it was overshadowed by the guilt he felt for having these thoughts.

“Oh, well,” Peter shrugged, “We might as well go out, since we’re both dressed.”

Tony’s shoulders slumped reluctantly. “Do we have to?” 

Peter studied him quietly, then said, “Yes. Get up, baby.” 

In an instant, the hurt and anger washed out of him, leaving him feeling oddly empty and content. Peter wasn’t too big on using pet names or terms of endearment, so whenever he did bring one out, it worked as a balm and inadvertently soothed Tony’s heated demeanor. Tony was still working on figuring out whether Peter was aware of the effect it had on him. 

Tony shuffled to Peter’s side and laced their fingers together. “Where are we going?” 

“You’ll see.” Peter grinned, tugging him eagerly all the way down to the garage and into the car. 

“You know I don’t like surprises.” Tony complained.

“You don’t like bad surprises.” Peter corrected, settling into the driver’s seat and carefully pulling out of the parking space.

“How am I supposed to know this won’t be one?” Tony challenged, a smirk rising steadily onto his face. 

Peter shot him an affronted look. “Have any of my surprises ever been bad?” 

Tony grimaced, “Well... do you want me to lie to you, or to answer honestly?” 

Peter’s jaw dropped. “Tony! Fine, list one.”

“Don’t get upset, sweetheart, but when I mentioned that I’d never seen baby pigeons, that wasn’t a sign to go and kidnap a nest of them.” Tony shook his head at the memory. 

“But I brought the mom too. I didn’t separate them, or anything.” Peter’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. 

“Pete, they shat all over my floors and proceeded to try and gouge my eyes out.”

Peter hummed. “Okay, fine, that wasn’t a good idea. I’ll admit it.” 

“Oh, Hallelujah.” Tony threw his hands up. Peter snickered and reached out to catch one of his hands, pulling it to his mouth to press a distracted kiss to it. 

Tony marveled at the small gesture, heart melting just a bit. Peter made it so hard to stay mad at him.

“We’re here.” Peter announced, parking the car and hopping out. Tony followed suit, gazing at their surroundings curiously as he joined Peter near the hood of the car. 

They were standing at the entrance of a nondescript, gray building that stretched out across bright green grass. Peter ushered him in before he could look further, entering after him and leading the way to a counter. Just as they reached it, a group of people popped out from behind it. 

“Happy birthday!” The Avengers cheered in unison. 

Tony jumped, hand automatically gripping Peter’s. “Jesus, I have a heart condition.” 

Once his racing heart stopping slamming against his ribs, he peered at the team standing before him, taking in the big posters and bright balloons. He exhaled softly, and said:

“You guys didn’t have to do this.” 

Sam snorted, “We didn’t really have a choice. It was either we did this, or Webs cut off our balls.” 

Steve elbowed him. “We were happy to do it, actually.” 

From behind Tony’s back, Peter shook a fist threateningly in Sam’s direction. The man swallowed roughly and nodded along with Steve’s words. 

“Happy birthday, Tony.” Bruce smiled warmly, coming in for a hug. Tony patted him on the back awkwardly, a pleased glint making its way into his eyes despite his discomfort.

One by one, the members of the team came up and clapped Tony on the back, each with a cheerful ‘happy birthday’ that made his smile grow brighter and bigger. When they all finished greeting Tony, they moved back to the counter they’d been hiding behind and came back with roller skates in their hands.

Tony whistled lowly, “I haven’t been to a roller skating rink since the ‘80s.”

“So, you’re happy? I did good?” Peter fiddled with his pair of skates nervously.

Tony’s eyes widened, the implications of everything that had just occurred crashing down around him. “You did all of this. You set me up!”

Peter nodded.

“You didn’t forget my birthday.” Tony muttered, bashfully inching closer to pull him into a long hug.

Peter scoffed. “You thought I forgot? I would never.”

“You didn’t say anything about it, I just thought...” Tony trailed off, shrugging.

“You’re a dumbass, but I love you.” Peter snorted, disentangling himself from the hug to start herding Tony to the rink.

“I love you too.” Tony declared, grinning broadly despite the insult.

This was their first time saying those three words to each other, and Peter didn’t even seem to notice, the ease with which he said them making Tony shiver. He wobbled onto the rink with Peter, both men grabbing onto each other as they shakily skated down the rink.

Ahead of them, Thor slipped and went sprawling onto the ground, his long arms catching onto them and sending them crashing down. The three froze for a moment, limbs tangled together and backs’ aching, before bursting into laughter.

Tony’s eyes settled on Peter, head tilted back as he laughed, mirth and pain coloring his voice. He watched him grab Thor’s head for stability and get back on his feet, making it two feet before he slipped again and fell on his ass.

Perhaps it was time for Tony to start shopping for rings.

**Author's Note:**

> I’m cross-posting some stuff from Tumblr onto here.


End file.
